


Brittle

by wyvern



Series: Pornalot 2018 [7]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Established Relationship, M/M, Nature Magic, Sex Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-11
Updated: 2018-11-11
Packaged: 2019-08-21 12:50:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16576832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wyvern/pseuds/wyvern
Summary: It hasn't rained for weeks and Merlin is suffering.





	Brittle

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [Pornalot 2018's Challenge 4: (Super)natural.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16524620/chapters/38707841)
> 
> "Merlin" and its characters belong to BBC, Shine, history and whatever else. It's not me, I'm just playing around with them.

 

***

Arthur watches Merlin by the window as he’s looking out over the dried-out garden. It’s a sweltering heat outside, the sun ruling the summer like a mad dictator instead of sharing it with the clouds and the rains like she normally does.

It hasn’t rained for almost eight weeks, and Arthur knows that Merlin suffers despite not wanting to talk about it. It’s obvious anyway, in the way he twitches like a dry branch every time Arthur touches his arm, and in the way his lips are constantly chapped despite him applying lip balm all the time.

It’s obvious in the way Merlin looks more fragile now than ever for no logical reason.

“Do you want something to drink?” Arthur asks.

Merlin crosses his arms in front of him, lets out a small sigh, and finally turns away from the window.

“No,” he says, “I can’t.”

Arthur fetches a glass from the cupboard and fills it up with crisp, fresh water from the fridge. When he turns back to Merlin, he’s again watching out over the garden.

“Please. You need to drink.”

“Arthur, they’re dying.”

“I know, but it won’t help them if you die, too.”

***

When Arthur gets home from work on Thursday, he stops just outside the door and really takes a good look at their withered garden. It’s small, perfectly matching the one-bed cottage, but it’s normally lush and green under Merlin’s attentive care. Merlin, who is even more magic than this place, and who is worrying so much about it that he can barely think of anything else.

Idly, Arthur picks a dead leaf from the ivy covering the front of the building, crushes it slowly between his fingers and lets it fall to the ground. It worries him, how much the drought affects Merlin. With a heavy sigh, he opens the door.

***

“And you expect that to work?”

Arthur has his doubts, but Merlin’s looking at him with such a feverish glow in his eyes that his defences quickly crumble.

Merlin nods. “Yeah, it will. It will. The book says it will.”

It might be hope more than actual belief that makes him agree in the end, but Arthur doesn’t have the heart to refuse Merlin what he thinks he so desperately needs—regardless how absolutely insane it sounds to a non-magical person.

***

It’s unbearably hot in their bedroom. All the fans are on, but the air they’re wafting around are so hot it’s more like sitting in a windy sauna than anything else.

He’s lying naked on his back on the bed with his hands behind his head, watching Merlin carefully hold a large, ancient-looking book open and reading the instructions inside. The book feels very out of place in their small cottage, and he wonders where Merlin’s got ahold of it. Probably their neighbour, Gaius, who has all kinds of strange old things in his possession.

Merlin’s straddling his hips, biting his lower lip in concentration as he reads. It’s sweet. When he shifts, his hairy, naked bum slowly rubs against Arthur’s cock. God, how long can the instructions possibly be? He lightly, carefully puts his hands on Merlin’s thighs and caresses them. Merlin’s lost a lot of weight since the drought started but Arthur can’t really tell if it’s from worrying or if it’s because of the magical connection to their garden.

“Okay, we need to…” Merlin manages to put the heavy book down onto the bedside table with a deep sigh. “I think it boils down to that you need to come inside me. Twice.”

“But—”

“I trust you to not make me pregnant, Arthur,” Merlin says, with a shadow of his usual sharp sense of humour. “We’ve done this before. Now get going.”

***

Afterwards, they lie on the damp sheet together, limbs comfortably entangled. Arthur knows he should get up to get a cloth or something, something to clean them up, but Merlin had held onto him so tightly when he’d tried a few minutes ago that he’s temporarily given up.

Merlin’s eyes are closed and his breaths are still hard, and for a second Arthur worries he’s not okay. He’s just about to ask when—

There are glowing wisps of magic emanating from Merlin’s fingertips, like several small, golden versions of the Milky Way. A soft smile on Merlin’s face shows his satisfaction at the magical response and his back arches up as if he’s being controlled by a puppet master. Arthur’s hand tenses where it’s resting on Merlin’s chest, and Merlin slowly sinks back down onto the mattress with a pleased sigh.

Though the glowing isn’t cold or even cool, it makes Arthur shudder as it touches his bare stomach and finds it way even further down, in between their bodies. It’s a magical caress like Arthur’s never felt one before, and it makes all his hairs stand on end.

He doesn’t notice the room getting darker, and when the first thunderclap cracks open the sky above them, he starts so bad he almost falls out of the bed. Merlin, still with his eyes closed and magic flowing from his fingertips, frowns slightly and tightens his hold on him.

“Stay,” he whispers. “Stay here with me.”

And Arthur stays with him as the second thunderclap makes the entire cottage shake. He stays there with him, listening to the sound of the heavy rain against the slated roof above them. He stays with him as the raindrops pummel the windows, washing away all the dust from the drought.

Arthur stays with him.

  
***  
THE END  
***


End file.
